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Tirisea
Tirisea is the name of the planet the campaign takes place on. The planet is flat, consisting of two continents and numerous intelligent races and civilizations. __TOC__ Quick Facts * Area: 22,906,000 km² (8,844,000 sq mi) * Estimated Population: 100,000,000 (civilized races) * Continents: 2 * Oceans: 3 * Sovereign States: Amalgama, Coral Isles, Dyffryn Caidris, Great Trench, The Heartlands of Laputa, Kazamara, The Kingdom of Crag, Mura'kesz * Languages: New Common (Dwarven), Old Common (Human), Elvish, Gnomish, Orcish, Canticum, Jamessa * Percentage of Water: 80% * Percentage Civilized Land: 40% * Length of a Day (Solar Tangential Orbit): **12 hours (Summer) **24 hours (Autumn & Spring) **48 hours (Winter) * Length of each Season (Solar Binormal Orbit) **1080 hours/90 Days (Summer) **1440 hours/60 days (Autumn & Spring) **1080 hours/22.5 days (Winter) *'Length of a Year': 5040 hours, or 210 24-hour periods, or 232.5 days Surface Features The surface of the planet consists of 3 major oceans and 2 continents, separated by the The Kul Tiras Sea. A major mountain range bisects the continents, passing under the Kul Tiras Sea to create the Coral Isles' islands. ((These continents and oceans need names - see the Forums)) The planet is flat (planar), meaning from a perspective higher than the tallest mountain and no clouds to interfere one could see the entirety of the planet. Atmosphere is created via a dome of unknown properties above the surface which contains gasses of a minimum weight (oxygen, nitrogen, etc). The planet experiences "normal" gravity, weather, and so on - with exceptions noted below. Though the disk is not exceptionally thick or deep, the bottom layer of earth beneath the surface of Tirisea is made of a superdense rock material. It's density, weight, and toughness makes it completely impenetrable and produce much of the planet's gravity. This material is permeated only by magical networks of energy, producing massive amounts of geothermal heat. The networks converge in the center of the disk and become more sparse by the edges, so despite the soil dispersing the heat somewhat evenly the center of Tirisea will always be much warmer than the edges. From the perspective of mortal beings living on the planet it would still be a struggle to dig deep enough where these factors were measurable, but should one dig deep enough down the pressure, gravity, and heat would suddenly begin to increase exponentially, making things quickly uninhabitable. The oceans are contained on the planet by a massive ice wall that rings the perimeter of Tirisea. The walls hypothesized to be created by the magical networks of energy within the crust - stealing all heat from the edges of the disk and bringing them back to the center. As water climbs onto the wall it too freezes, causing the wall to always be higher than the greatest tides. While the walls can occasionally be observed, a tremendous, often opaque fog sits around the edges of the disk making the details mostly unknown. The properties of the atmosphere become more treacherous near the edges (due to the nature of the dome), the weather unbearable, and even magic unstable - so few if any have gotten close and survived to tell the tale. Celestial Bodies Tirisea has 3 moons, one of which is also its Sun. The two traditional moons run intersecting orbits at different distances. The closer moon is of more substantial mass, so that it is the primary factor of the planet's tides and extraterrestrial gravitational influences. The further moon has a higher reflectivity, so it appears brighter at night. Tirisea's third moon is it's sun, providing vital heat to the planet via radiation. Its orbits around the planet (tangential orbit) define the planet's days and nights. It also has an orbit that brings it closer and further to the planet (binormal orbit) which defines the planet's seasons. The sun consists of many gasses, giving it a nominal mass in terms of gravitational pull. Seasons and Solar Binormal Orbit There are three distinct distances the sun orbits at relative to the surface of Tirisea. These three orbits are defined by magic-magnetic fields around the planet. Only once the Sun has enough energy to move to the next tier does it move, giving it three distinct distances and only a brief (couple of hours) time in-between. Each position marks a season on Tirisea, and one full rotation of distance marks a year. The progresses through the tiers in the following pattern: 1 (Close/Hot) → 2 (Mid/Temperate) → 3 (Far/Cold) → 2 (Mid/Temperate) → 1 (Close/Hot) This pattern defines the seasons, with 1 being Summer, 3 being Winter, and 2 Spring or Autumn based on if the sun is coming closer or heading further. Each tier is double the distance of the sun from the previous. Regardless of the length of a day, the Summer and Winter seasons are shorter than Spring and Autumn. The sun is being pulled towards the middle tier, so Summer and Winter are 75% as many total hours as Spring and Autumn. However, because the length of the days are different in each season (discussed below), the number of days also varies widely for Summer and Winter. Winter, being a shorter season with the longest days, has only 22.5 full rotations of the sun before the sun returns to its position for Spring. While Summer is equally as short in hours as Winter, its days are so short that it gets a full 90 rotations of the sun. Despite the Sun quadrupling its distance from Tirisea from Summer to Winter, the planet still remains habitable in temperature during the Winter. Tirisea has a significant percentage of its heat come from geothermal sources, giving it sufficient heat even when the sun provides little. The geothermal sources are located primarilly in the center of the planet, causing the desert territories of Mura'kesz to remain very hot even in the Winter. Conversely, the weather of distant lands such as the Kingdom of Crag are affected by the seasons dramatically, as it depends more on heat from the sun. Night of the Melting Frost For 3 of the 4 transitions between seasons, the movement of the sun between tiers happens during night. The only indication of the movement is a change in the brightness of the moons in the sky. However, Winter is 22.5 days long, causing the transition from Winter to Spring to happen during the day. In the middle of this yearly event, the sun can be easily seen growing in size, effectively doubling as it halves the distance between itself and Tirisea. This moment is one of great significance, and every culture celebrates it in some manner. In modern times, this celebration has become the "Night of the Melting Frost", as for much of Tirisea it marks the first night where temperatures will remain above freezing. The celebration begins at the movement of the sun, and goes long into the night. Days and Solar Tangential Orbit The sun moves at a constant speed around Tirisea regardless of season. However, as the sun gets further away from Tirisea, it has a larger circumference to travel around for a given day. Because of this, the days are longer as the seasons get cooler. The sun completes a full rotation in 12 hours during the Summer position, 24 hours in the Spring and Autumn position, and takes 42 hours during the Winter position. While a day is defined as a full rotation of the sun around Tirisea, different civilized groups adapt their waking/sleeping cycles in different ways. The Dwarves of the Great Trench have invented a calendar for each season that optimizes productivity while maximizing waking time in the sunlight, and has been adopted by many nations and industries. However, others, such as more farming-centric cultures like Amalgama, still depend too heavily on sunlight to use the compromised industrial system and adapt in other ways. It has been observed that some of these cultures grow up so disciplined in their following of the sun throughout the seasons, that the circadian rhythm of these people change with the seasons to allow their sleeping patterns to match.